When she was nine years old, Elaine Whiting told her mum that she was going to run away with the circus.

The 66-year-old may not have quite made it that far but by her own admission the fairground veteran has "got very close".

For the past 48 years, Elaine has been working Nottingham's annual Goose Fair at the Forest Recreation Ground with her husband John, 69, who she lives with in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.

For the past 48 years Elaine has been working Nottingham's annual Goose Fair at the Forest Recreation Ground with her husband Jack (Image: Rachel Gorman)

Introduced at 16 and married at 18, in getting hitched Elaine joined one of the UK's oldest travelling fairground families. And, according to the proud four-time grandmother, the Whitings are the oldest established tenant at Goose Fair.

"Goose Fair has changed massively over the years. When I first started coming as a teenager it was half the size it is now," Elaine told Nottinghamshire Live from a small staffroom trailer behind her ride - a Disney Cars-inspired children's 'racing' track.

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Goose Fair 2018

"There was still that same core, as well as the sights and smells and laughter."

And she still loves it, even after almost five decades.

"Where else can you go in this day and age where a whole family, from grandparents to babes in arms, can come together to enjoy themselves?," she added.

Perhaps surprisingly, Elaine confesses to not being that enthralled by the rides themselves but instead thrives on the atmosphere of the fair - an atmosphere which means she won't be retiring any time soon.

"I don't thinking I'll ever stop. This is the retirement project," said Elaine, who travels to fairs stretching the whole of the UK, from Bridgewater in Somerset to Kirkcaldy in Scotland.

She estimates travelling between 4,000 and 5,000 miles a year, leaving her family home for around two weeks at a time.

"We do a lot of miles compared to other showmen but it's not a lot. We're not like a haulage company. We travel one day and then we are there. We set up and don't move until the end of that week," said Elaine, whose next stop after Goose Fair will be the Ilkeston Charter Fair.

"It can be tough making yourself comfortable while on the road but we've got a house to go back to. And when we are on the road we stay in an American caravan, which is nice. There's central heating and air conditioning... all the home comforts."

So what is it Elaine likes so much about working fairgrounds all these years on?

"It's meeting friends from other areas and also the customers. Because we go to the same places and stand on the same spot you'd be surprised how many recognise you year after year. They bring their children back and then their grandchildren."

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EVENTS IN NOTTINGHAM

Goose Fair opening times

Friday: 11am-11.30pm

Saturday: 11am-11pm

Sunday: 1pm-9pm

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